Ashes reveal Britain's first Roman capital, Colchester, was a 'melting pot' drawing migrants from Italy, Spain and Lebanon

Durham University scientists applied a pioneering technique — analysing strontium and lead isotopes in cremated skull bones — to establish where 22 people buried in Roman Colchester had come from, identifying four migrants who would have gone undetected by conventional methods. The study, published in Royal Society Open Science, confirms that Camulodunum was attracting people from across the empire during a pivotal period of social and political transformation after the Roman conquest.

While the majority of the 22 individuals were raised in southern Britain, confirmed newcomers had travelled from what are now Spain, Italy and Lebanon.

Among the most striking discoveries was an individual interred inside the famous Colchester Vase, whose surface is adorned with gladiatorial combat and wild beast hunts.

The method succeeds because strontium and lead isotope signatures survive in cremated bone, opening up migration data that the era's dominant burial practice had long kept out of reach.